Tax plan to have limits, oversight

Thursday

Jul 4, 2013 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - Among safeguards to avoid abuse years from now, a proposed 3/4-cent sales tax increase designed to bail Stockton out of bankruptcy and bolster police staffing will sunset after a decade - or possibly sooner.

Scott Smith

STOCKTON - Among safeguards to avoid abuse years from now, a proposed 3/4-cent sales tax increase designed to bail Stockton out of bankruptcy and bolster police staffing will sunset after a decade - or possibly sooner.

The new money - an estimated $28 million in its first full year - will also be audited by an outside group. The City Council will assign a citizens' oversight committee to judge yearly whether the money is spent as promised.

And if the city's general fund within the tax's 10-year lifespan returns to its peak of 2008, signaling Stockton's economic recovery, the City Council will convene to consider reducing or eliminating the tax.

City Manager Bob Deis will present the proposed measure Tuesday to the City Council. The council has to unanimously give its approval before it can go on the Nov. 5 ballot for a citywide vote.

The general tax, requiring a simple majority of voters, can be spent on anything today's or future city leaders want. Deis said in a staff report that he heard loud and clear that residents demand protections from abuses and risky adventures once the good times return to Stockton.

While the layers of safety nets Deis proposes don't convince everybody that taxpayers are protected, the city manager said he's trying to strike a balance between addressing this mistrust of City Hall and giving elected leaders flexibility.

"Good governance cannot be achieved by a formula," he said. "Elected officials must retain some authority to make decisions and adapt to a constantly changing environment."

Deis added that it is the community's duty to remain engaged and to elect a "thoughtful leadership."

If approved, the city proposes to spend 65 percent of the new tax money on the city's Marshall Plan on Crime to hire 120 more police officers, enhance gang programs and create a Violence Reduction Office.

The other 35 percent will go to paying Stockton's debt suspended under Chapter 9 protection, restoring depleted city funds and replacing antiquated technology.

Without the tax increase, the city will have to cut millions more from its budget.

Under another provision of the tax proposal, the City Council could extend it beyond 10 years. That, too, comes with a safety net: City employees can't receive pay higher than workers of comparable cities.

Mayor Anthony Silva has said that he expects to vote in favor of the 3/4-cent sales tax, and on Thursday he submitted a one-page letter to Deis noting "minor changes" he wishes to see in the ballot language.

Silva said he wants it glaringly clear in the tax measure that the police force will grow by at least 100 officers, and he wants the oversight committee to meet four times a year rather than once, as Deis proposed.

"Public confidence is a must, particularly in view of the fact that we have been advised that there is already organized opposition," Silva said.

"I don't think it's all the way there," said Sawyer, a political consultant and Stockton resident. "But it's pretty close."

Silva and Sawyer were members of the Stockton Safe Streets coalition, which had pushed for putting a highly restricted half-cent sales tax increase on the ballot this year.

The group, which also included developers Matthew Arnaiz and Anthony Barkett, recently dropped its effort in the face of strong opposition by Deis and a majority of the council.

Dean Andal, a former state legislator and Stockton resident, maintains his opposition to the 3/4-cent tax measure even after reading Deis' safeguards. There remains no certainty the money will be used to hire police, he said.

The safeguards are empty, Andal said, because the City Council on its own action can override the sunset provision, not giving taxpayers a say; the city's general fund is also subject to an audit, which hasn't been done effectively; and members of the oversight committee are appointed by the council members.

"They will likely report back to the City Council whatever the City Council wanted them to say," Andal said. "That's the way things work in government. It provides no protection to the taxpayers."